<p>On Thursday we hit the <a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/five-key-swing-teams-at-the-nhls-thanksgiving-standings-juncture/">Thanksgiving Standings Juncture</a> of the NHL season, the unofficial demarcation point known to predict which teams make or miss the playoffs.</p>



<p>We also are starting to understand which teams are looking like the league’s true bottom dwellers – and draft lottery contenders.</p>



<p>With an incredible 15 teams within five points of last overall as of Thursday…<strong>Which team needs a 2025 NHL Draft Lottery win the most?</strong></p>



<p><strong>MATT LARKIN:</strong> I understand why the Columbus Blue Jackets would be the clear sentimental pick given what they’ve been through, but they’ve picked fifth, sixth, third and fourth overall in the past four drafts, so they aren’t starved for foundational pieces. I’m old-school in that I believe the sport is more interesting when the Original Six teams are relevant. The Montreal Canadiens won the lottery in 2022 and have a top-tier talent coming in Ivan Demidov, but the&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/detroit-red-wings/line-combinations">Detroit Red Wings</a>&nbsp;</strong>are starved for a game breaker. They haven’t picked first overall since snagging Joe Murphy in 1986. They’re staring down a ninth consecutive playoff miss this spring, so the fan base has suffered enough. Their “new” arena opened in 2017 and hasn’t hosted a Stanley Cup playoff game yet. General manager Steve Yzerman desperately needs a superstar to build around.</p><div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="210"></div>



<p><strong>STEVEN ELLIS:&nbsp;</strong>The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/pittsburgh-penguins/line-combinations" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>Pittsburgh Penguins&nbsp;</strong></a>aren’t going to be competitive to close out the Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin era, that’s for sure. But with the state of their pipeline now, they’re not going to be overly competitive any time soon, either. The team’s future looks disastrous and they don’t have a ton of valuable assets to bring in the help they need. Drafting first overall won’t change that, but they’ve had very few homegrown prospects actually pan out into anything notable in recent years. At this point, any help is vital – and there’s plenty of talented options in the top five to choose from this year.</p>



<p><strong>SCOTT MAXWELL:&nbsp;</strong>For me, it’s the&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/nashville-predators/line-combinations" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nashville Predators</a></strong>. I wrote in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/understanding-whats-wrong-with-the-nashville-predators" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">my piece last week</a>&nbsp;about how one of their biggest issues at the moment is their center depth, and the best way to get that is through the Draft. I’d imagine James Hagens’ ceiling is much higher than those of Tomas Novak and a 33-year-old Ryan O’Reilly and would certainly give the Predators the kind of center that the franchise has lacked throughout the entirety of their franchise history. Considering how much money and term they’ve invested in this older core with minimal draft/prospect capital to use in trades, a lottery win seems like the only likely way that they find that upgrade at center.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="215"></div>



<p><strong>PAUL PIDUTTI:</strong>&nbsp;I’m going to take a spin on Matt’s Original Six take and say that there’s a certain buzz north of the border when more of its seven franchises matter. Biased Canadian, I know! Enter the&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/ottawa-senators/line-combinations">Ottawa Senators</a></strong>. It’s been seven years (and counting) since they made the playoffs… for perspective, Dion Phaneuf was a key part of their blueline back then. Despite encouraging new ownership, the Linus Ullmark acquisition, and&nbsp;a decade of young, homegrown talent (Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, Jake Sanderson, Thomas Chabot,&nbsp;Ridly Greig, Shane Pinto, Jacob Bernard-Docker, Zack Ostapchuk, Cole Reinhardt, Tyler Kleven), the Senators often still feel a few years away from being a few years away. I hope I’m wrong, as the city and franchise is foaming at the mouth for meaningful&nbsp;hockey. But if Ottawa isn’t going to be a legitimate playoff contender again this year, it’s probably best if they stay eligible to win the draft lottery. This core clearly needs more reinforcements… and fast.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="161"></div>



<p><strong>FRANK SERAVALLI</strong>:&nbsp;I can’t think of a team that needs it more than the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/new-york-islanders/line-combinations">New York Islanders</a>.&nbsp;Honestly, I don’t know where they go from here. Getting that deep in the standings seems like an impossibility with that roster; there is just enough talent to be in purgatory anywhere from 20th to 25th in the league. They’ve got Mat Barzal and Noah Dobson and Ilya Sorokin and …? What’s the path forward? Hey, it would be the Isles’ luck to actually win the Lottery and do it in a year in which there isn’t a clear consensus No. 1 pick and also no real consensus as to whether that pick will become a franchise player.</p>



<p><strong>ANTHONY DI MARCO: </strong>This may seem ridiculous given how much money they just spent in the summer, but the <strong>Nashville Predators</strong> desperately need a jolt of youth into their roster. They haven’t drafted in the top five since 2013 (Seth Jones fourth overall) and haven’t exactly knocked it out of the park with their first rounders as is – refer to Philip Tomasino. They have some solid prospects coming (Joakim Kemell could be a special player) but none is a slam-dunk franchise changer. The Preds’ best players right now are all older; most of their younger players have been disappointing to this point. If for no reason other than to save face on what appears to be an offseason of major miscalculation, I think the Preds are desperate for a first overall pick.<br></p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="245"></div>



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